2013

2013 wasn’t finished yet on this week’s first radio show of 2014 on CKCU-FM. This time, it was the Top 10 Non-Canadian Indie Music of 2013 and considered to be the fourth part of the year end countdown. It’s become a yearly tradition to do two different year-end countdowns. One strictly for Canadian music and the other being non-Canadian music. The non-Canadian list is shorter as I place more emphasis on the Canadian music scene.
Myself and Lauren were counting the best albums from outside of Canada. There were good releases from the top 10 played.
Bands like The Naked and Famous, Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The National had highly anticipated albums and there were surprises from HAIM as their popularity exploded in 2013.

There are two different versions of the countdown. The one aired on CKCU was the top 10 while the entry from the Best of 2013 page is the top 13 Non-Canadian Indie music of 2013.
The radio show version had three new Canadian indie tracks for 2014, they were Crissi Cochrane, The Balconies and Silkken Laumann.
The blog version has Hot Natured (recommended by the host of CKCU’s The Cloud), Best Coast and Foals played on the top 13 of 2013. At the end, leftovers of 2013 were “Your Life Is a Lie” by MGMT and Byegone by Volcano Choir.

To check out the CKCU-FM version, you can go to this link. The On-Demand audio is available to listen over there.
To view the full list, go to The Top 50 of 2013 page is over at this link.
This wraps up the best of music for 2013. Onwards to 2014!Continue reading →

It was one of the coldest nights in the Nation’s Capital to end 2013 and ringing in 2014. It was adventure to remember as I had the opportunity to go to the National Capital Gala‘s Gatsby New Year’s Ball at the Conference Centre in downtown Ottawa. It was a lavish event with party-goers dressing in elegant dresses. There were live music and burlesque dancers. You can check out the photos below.

Towards the end of 2013, I was checking on Instagram to found out a good friend (and former co-host) was over at Zaphod Beeblebrox for the New Year’s Eve dance party and I decided to bolt over there and say hello. I didn’t realize there was a $15 cover charge and I had to run to the bank to withdraw money and back to Zaphods. I was a hot sweaty mess from the running. I did get to see my good friend. It was nice ringing in the new year and to hear the DJ play Reflektor by Arcade Fire several minutes after the new year.
I totally forgot that I dressed “nicely” on New Year’s Eve. It’s one of the rare time that I would dress formally. I just enjoy wearing this jacket with elbow patches. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in any photos.
Overall, what a way to finish 2013 with a bang and hope 2014 will be wonderful. I know 2013 was tough as greats from the likes of Nelson Mandela, ‘Stompin’ Tom Connors and many others have passed away. Hello to 2014Continue reading →

I had to split the entries this week because of the tribute to Anita Mui running on the same day. On this edition of WildWorks, it was the top 10 Canadian indie music of 2013. It’s considered the third part to The WildWorks Top 50 of 2013. 2013 had some good releases from Canadian musicians and bands. Myself and Lauren counted down to the 50 albums and EPs that came out this year. The number one for this year is Basia Bulat because Tall Tall Shadow (her third record) is considered a strong album and some of the songs showed some emotions as it dealt with loss.
Rounding out the top 10 are Shad, Arcade Fire, The Darcys, Born Ruffians, Young Galaxy, Austra, DIANA, Louise Burns and Gold & Youth.
The full list will be posted up on New Year’s Day.

Before airing the top 10, there was a pre-show as I played the best of 2013 where I forgot to add bands and musicians left out of my top 50 of 2013.
You can check the playlist over at this link. You can listen to the audio below.

It’s on this day, ten years ago when I heard the sad news that Anita Mui peacefully passed away from cancer. It was fitting on this day, being December 30th that I played songs on CKCU-FM. As I filled in for The Drunken Master Revue, it was just nice to play classic songs and try to remember how much of an impact Mui made in Hong Kong and abroad. Towards the end of the first hour, I was in tears when two songs (videos posted below) I played were emotional to listen.
Growing up, I have been fond of watching music awards shows and Hong Kong films. It’s part of my upbringing till this day that I kept my cultural background as people who we idolize over time are no longer around. Ten years seem to have gone by quickly as her presence and even Leslie Cheung (died in the same year) are deeply missed.

As mentioned on the show that she was the Madonna of Asia as she channeled songs and bringing lavish fashion and clothing. I cited quotes from an article over at Wall Street Journal during the tribute. Also on the day was the memorial concert held in Hong Kong to commemorate the tenth anniversary of her death. Stars from Andy Lau, Jackie Chan and Sandy Lam took part in the memorial. It was organized by singer, Jacky Cheung and actor, Eric Tsang.
For non-Chinese readers, here’s another article from WSJ Asia on the Anita Mui memorial concert. Published on December 31, 2013.

Anita Mui is still cherished and remembered to this day. Her music and movies will never be forgotten.
You can listen to the audio below. There were some songs I played for the first time on CKCU-FM as well with the usual classic Anita Mui songs played on occasion.Continue reading →

Like this:

It was an epic day as I was on the airwaves from 7-10am and then the regular show at 11am on CKCU-FM. First, it was the Monday Special Blend and I was joined by Canadian Spaces host, Chris White as we had Shannon Rose & The Thorns. Rose has a new song which is fitting for Christmas and it’s called North Star. She performed three songs live on the airwaves. First was North Star, the second was Phoenix and lastly, a Bing Crosby cover song, I’ll Be Home For Christmas. Luckily, Ottawa didn’t bear brunt of the ice storm which hit Toronto on the weekend. Overall, it was a great morning to have guests like Chris White and Shannon Rose. From the image above, it was shot on a Polaroid.
The next show to help out was The Filibuster and we basically played Christmas songs ranging from the popular one to Metal to Canadian indie music. It was a nice mix of tunes to play as I was joined host, Ben James for the Filibuster.
To my own show, I played the favourites from Jill Barber, Basia Bulat and Nat Jay. It’s become a yearly tradition to play those wonderful festive songs. There were a few new tracks from Mounties, The Mountain and the Trees and a new Said The Whale.
You can check the playlist over at the this link. You can listen to the audio below. It will be a lengthy listen. Happy Holidays!Continue reading →

Three consecutive days to writing a blog entry is astounding. It’s a nice way of making it up from a month’s absence in October. All I have to say that it was a great weekend as I attended Ottawa Pop Expo.
This week’s radio show on CKCU-FM had the interview with Kashka. It is fronted by former Forest City Lovers, Kat Burns. It’s been awhile since I last saw her.
As mentioned elsewhere, it’s the last music interview of 2013 as I will be getting into the festive tunes and the year end countdowns. Back to Kashka, Burns was in Ottawa on Friday night for her tour and in support of the second album, Bound. It was released in late November. For those who don’t know, Kashka’s music takes the term of ‘folkpoptronica.’ A blending folk, pop and electronic music into one. You can listen to the interview below.
I started the show with a tribute to Nelson Mandela. I played the song Glorious Days by Hong Kong rock band, Beyond. It’s a homage to Mandela back in 1990. It was inspired by his fight for inequality and the song is now used for demonstrations fighting against anti-racism and for freedom. The music video is posted below with English subtitles. Even though, it’s in Cantonese, there’s images of the late great Mandela. Long live Madiba!

You can check the playlist over at this link.
Lastly, if you’re listening from the blog, I played the full versions of Make Me A Mirror by Ark Analog and the brand new song by St. Vincent, Birth In Reverse.Continue reading →